Tom Cruise has got incredible humor and only people who worked closely with him have seen this side of the action star. There were a few rare occasions when the Mission: Impossible actor showed himself as hilarious in front of the world. One such moment was during the 2011 Annie Awards when Cruise pulled off a little different stunt from his usual ones.
Cruise was working with director Brad Bird in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol at the time. Cruise and Simon Pegg appeared alongside Bird during his award acceptance speech, holding a gun to his head. Bird appeared to be a hostage in the video who was forced to say the speech.
Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg Pulled Off A Little Comedic Stunt With MI – Ghost Protocol Director
Before he directed Tom Cruise in a Mission: Impossible film, Brad Bird had a thriving career in animation. His works included The Iron Giant, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles. He was honored with the special Winsor McCay award at the 2011 Annie Awards for his achievements in animation. He wasn’t able to attend the event but appeared via a video to deliver his acceptance speech.
Bird expressed his gratitude for the award, mentioning his co-recipients Matt Groening and Eric Goldberg. However, his speech treaded into weird territory soon, with Bird mentioning his involvement in the world of animation was coming to an end. He shared that he was moving to live-action, which is what he “always secretly wanted to be.”
He added that live-action was a “stress-free carefree world of creativity without compromise” when compared to animation. He then went on to praise actors and added that they were not paranoid about the advances in animation technology.
Bird says in the video, “Such notions are absurd and anyone that thinks that is an idiot and a communist.” If fans hadn’t guessed by then that something was off with the director’s speech, they were pleasantly surprised to see Bird being held at gunpoint by none other than Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg.
As Bird mentions his MI stars’ names in the video, the camera slowly pulls out showing the two actors. It was a funny moment at the awards, revealing that Bird was forced to talk in favor of live-action movies by the two actors. Cruise and Pegg gave off some true gangster energy in the video as well.
While he mentions that he left behind animation as part of the comedy bit, Bird did return to Pixar to make Incredibles 2 in 2018. At the time, it became the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time.
Brad Bird Once Shared That Tom Cruise Ruined Him For Other Actors
Brad Bird was truly impressed with Tom Cruise’s stunts in the film. He shared that Cruise’s commitment had ruined him for other actors. He shared that he was not going to understand anymore why other actors couldn’t do their own stunts in their films. Bird shared with the LA Times:
He’s ruined me for everyone else. I’m not going to understand after this point why any actor doesn’t want to do all of their own stunts and hang off of a mile-high building. He truly loves the movies and the movie-making process, and he knows a ton about it but is incredibly polite and shows up on time and has done all of his homework.
Brad Bird only directed Ghost Protocol in the Mission: Impossible series. The film received positive reviews and Bird’s direction received praise from the critics. The film grossed $694.7 million at the box office, making it the highest-grossing Tom Cruise and MI film at the time (via Box Office Mojo).
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and other MI films are available for streaming on Paramount+.
